Cooling bed



March 1945- .G. w. RAUSCHENBERGER 1 COOLING BED 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledNov. 8, 1943 INVENTOR E .6 eorge fiausc/lenberg ,m /l

March 6, 1945. G. w. RAUSCHENBERGER 2,370,915

COOLING BED 2 SheetsSheet 2 Filed Nov. 8, 1945 wnl l l l l lfl h l HINVENTOR George fiausc/lenberger Patented Mar. 6, 1945 coouna nan GeorgeW. Bausclienberger, Boone, men, aasignor to National Steel Corporation,a ee -p ration of Delaware Application November 8, 1943, Serial No.509,388

.6 Claims.

The present invention relates to a cooling bed for cooling rounds, rods,bars, shapes, or the like, after they have been rolled on a mill, suchas the type commonly called a "merchant mill. More particularly, itrelates to a cooling bed provided with a plurality of stops or spacingmembers which operate to maintain the rounds in proper position on thebed and cause them to move forwardly along the bed and be delivered tothe discharge end of the bed and to the shearing mechanism locatedadjacent the end of the bed at a proper shearing temperature.

Heretofore considerable difflcultyhas been encountered in the operationof merchant mills in delivering rounds from the cooling bed to theshearing mechanism at the proper shearing temperature. Merchant millsare generally employed for the rolling of rounds, bars, rods and variousshapes. When the rolling of the material on the mill is completed, therounds, bars, etc., are red hot and must be cooled to some extent beforeshearing and further handling. Consequently, they are delivered by themill to one end of a cooling bed over which they travel. The cooling bedis of such dimensions and is operated at such speed that the materialduring its travel thereover cools slowly to a predetermined temperature,which is sufficiently low to permit some annealing thereof, and todeliver it to the shearing mechanism at the proper temperature forshearing. Such cooling beds are generally of the walkingbeam type inwhichalternate beams are reciprocated vertically and horizontally orhorizontally only and intermediate beams are reciprocated verticallyonly or both horizontally and vertically.

In the conventional cooling bed, flat-topped form from the standpoint ofthe annealing of the product and also creates dimculty in the shearingthereof.

A portionof the conventional cooling bed is formed of beams having anotched top surface which will cause the bars, rounds, rods or shapes tomove over this portion of the bed at the proper rate of speed, but ithas been found desirable where various shapes are being rolled on themill to have a portion of the cooling bed, and particularly the portionclosest the discharge end, formed of beams having a flat top surface.

The difllculties mentioned above in respect of wardly at the desiredrate of speed, whereby they beams are generally employed fortransporting around and are not carried forwardly until they,

are actually pushed by succeeding bars coming from the mill. The resultis that rounds remain on the cooling bed for too long a period of timeand cool to too great an extent for subsequent shearing. Moreover, therounds are not on the cooling bed for a uniform period of time and,consequently, some of them are cooled to a greater extent than others.This renders them non-uniare delivered to the discharge end of thecooling bed and to the shearing mechanism at the proper temperature. Themeans for causing the rounds to move at the proper rate over the coolingbed may be carried by the walking beams themselves or they may becarried on any other portion of the bed which is reciprocated with thebeams. It is only necessary that they be movable from an inoperativeposition in which they will not interfere with the movement of square orrectangular shapes over the bed to an operative position where they willprevent the rounds or rods from movin v rearwardly and cause them tomove forwardly at the desired speed. Consequently, my invention is notlimited to the use of stop members which are carried directly by thebeams. Nor is my invention limited to any specific typestop membercapable of being moved from an inoperative position to an operativeposition as the stop members may assume various different forms.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown for purposes of illustration.only a preferred embars are mounted on beams 1.

relates.

Figure 2 is an enlarged side elevatlonal view of a portion of thecooling bed shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a partial plan view of the portion of the cooling bedillustrated in Figure 2;

Figure 4 is an enlarged partial side elevational view of a portion ofthe beam shown in Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a section taken along line V--V of Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a plan view of one of the movable stop members shownattached to some of the beams illustrated in Figures 1 to 4, inclusive;

Figure 7 is a side elevational view of the movable stop member shown inFigure 6.

In the embodiment illustrated in the drawings the rounds are fed to theapproach table 2 from the mill in a direction normal to the direction inwhich they travel along the bed. They travel along the bed from left toright, as shown in Figure 1. The rounds are fed from the approachAlternate notch bars are supported on transversely extending beams 6 andI; that is, one bar is mounted on beams 6 and the next adjacentsupported for reciprocation so as to provide a walking beam movement forthe notch bars.

' Various types of walking beam movements are well known in the art towhich this invention In one type, alternate bars are reciprocatedhorizontally and vertically and the intermediate ones are'reciprocatedvertically only. In another well-known type, all the bars arereciprocated both vertically and horizontally, adjacent bars moving inopposite directions. In the type of structure shown in the drawings,alternate bars 5 are mounted for both vertical and These beams arehorizontal reciprocation and the intermediate bars are mounted for onlyvertical reciprocation. Horizontal reciprocation of alternate bars 5 iseifected'by shafts 8, rockers 9 and connecting rods 10 and H. Verticalreciprocation of the bars is effected by driving mechanism l2 connectedto the various beams through pipes l3.

In view of the fact that the present invention is not addressed to orparticularly concerned with the reciprocatory mechanism, a detaileddiscussion thereof is unnecessary.

while supporting the rounds, the intermediate bars are ,not in contactwith the rounds. When the notch bars have reached the forward end oftheir travel, the intermediate bars are raised to receive the rounds.The alternate notch bars are then lowered and moved rearwardly. Whenthey have reached the end of their rearward travel they are movedupwardly to receive the rounds and the intermediate ones are lowered.After the rounds have been transferred from one set of notch bars to theother, the one set moves forwardly again. Thus the rounds are caused tomove forwardly over the bed,

After the rounds have traversed the rack bars they are transferred tothe flat-topped beams l4. The ends of these beams adjacent the rack barsextend between the ends of the rack bars so that the rounds can betransferred directly thereto. This portion. of the cooling bed comprisesa plurality of spaced beams l4, some of I which are carried ontransverse beams l5 and some on transverse beams l6. These beams are Itwill suffice to state that as alternate notch bars move forwardlyarranged to be vertically reciprocated by pipes As stated above,difilculties have been encoun- I tered heretofore in the handling ofrounds during their passage along that, portion of the table comprisingthe fiat-topped beams 14. When the rounds are supported by thevertically movable fiat-topped beams there is a tendency for them toroll around to some extent and not maintain their proper position. Whenthe rounds are picked up for forward movement by thevertically andhorizontally reciprocable'beams they are not maintained in properposition and instead of moving forwardly with the beams they rollrearwardly therealong and are not carried forward until they are pushedforward by succeeding bars being discharged from the notch bar sectionof the cooling bed. As a consequence, this leaves the rounds on theflat-topped section of the bed for too long a period of time and theybecome too cold for shearing.

In accordance with my invention, I provide means movable from aninoperative position slightly below the top surfaces of some of thebeams to an operative position above the top surfaces thereof forholding the rounds in position on the beams or for causing them to moveforwardly with the horizontally reciprocable beams at the properpredetermined speed. I provide a plurality of spaced stop members 22cooperating with any desired number of beams. It is unnecessary toprovide spaced stop members cooperating with all of the beams. It isnecessary only that two of the beams carrying the rounds at anyparticular time have cooperating stop members to prevent the rounds from'moving out of position thereon. As shown in Figure 3, these stopmembers may be placed on two adjacent beams at several points along thewidth of the cooling bed. They are provided on adjacent beams becauseone of the beams carrying the stop members is reciprocated verticallyand horizontally and the other is reciprocated vertically only.While-stop members are not absolutely necessary on the beams which donot carry the rounds forwardly, it is desirable to place them on thesebeams as well as upon those which do move the rounds forwardly in orderto prevent of the top flange of the supporting beam. The

pivot pin 26 is positioned below the top surface horizontally along thetop surface of the beam when rotated to this position. When the coolingbed is carrying rounds the stop members are, moved into position on thetops of the beams, and when the bed is carrying rectangular or othershapes these stop members need not be used and may be moved to aposition'below the top surface of the beam so that they will notinterfere with the material passing therealong.

The simplicity of my invention is well illustrated by the fact thatordinary hinges may be employed if desired. All that is necessary is tobend them to the proper shape and to weld them to the beams. A plate,such as the plate 25, can be welded to the movable portion of the hingeso as to provide a thicker stop member than would be present if thehinge were used in its usual condition.

In the drawings I have shown the stop members carried by thereciprocating beams. It will be apparent that these stop members neednot be carried by the beams but may be carried on other reciprocatingparts of the bed. For example, they may be carried on the walkways whichare generally positioned between some of the beams in the ordinary typeof cooling bed. It is only necessary that these stop members bereciprocable with the beams and movable into and out of an operativeposition above the top surfaces of the beams.

While I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention,it will be understood that it may be otherwise embodied within the scopeof the appended claims.

Iclaim: I

l. A cooling bed for rounds, bars or the'like comprising a plurality ofspaced beams adapted to support the rounds, means for horizontallyreciprocating at least some of the beams to move the rounds forwardlyalong the cooling bed, and stop members mounted for reciprocation withat least some of the beams, each of said stop members comprising apivotally mounted arm movable from an inoperative position below the topsurfaces of said beams ,to an operative position on the top thereof forholding the rounds in position on the beams to cause them to move withthe beams. v

2. A cooling bed for rounds, bars or the like comprising a plurality ofspaced beams adapted to support the rounds. means for vertically andhorizontally reciprocating at least some of the beams to move theroundsforwardly along the cooling bed, and means carried by at leastsome of the beams and movable-from an inoperative position below the topsurfaces of said beams to an operative position above the top surfacesthereof for holding the rounds in position on the beams and for causingthem to move forwardly with said beams during forward movement thereof.

3. A cooling bed for rounds, bars or the like comprising a plurality ofspaced beams adapted to support the rounds, means for vertically andhorizontally reciprocating alternate beams, means for verticallyreciprocating intermediate beams,

and stop members mounted for reciprocation with at least some of saidbeams and movable from an inoperative position below the top surfaces ofsaid beams to an operative position above the top surfaces thereof formaintaining the rounds in position on the beams.

4. A cooling bed for rounds, bars or the like comprising a plurality ofspaced beams adapted to support the rounds, means for horizontallyreciprocating alternate beams, means for vertically reciprocatingintermediate beams, stop members mounted for reciprocation with some ofsaid alternate beams and-with some of said intermediate beams andmovable from an inoperative position below the top surfaces of saidbeams to an operative position above the top surfaces thereof forproperly positioning the rounds and for carrying them forwardly over thecooling bed.

5. A cooling bed for rounds, bars or the like comprising a plurality ofspaced beams adapted to support the rounds, means for moving the roundsalong the beams, and stop members-carried by at least some of saidbeams, each stop member comprising a pivotally mounted arm movable froma position below the top surface of the beam on which it is mounted to aposition on the top thereof.

6. A cooling bed for rounds, bars or the like comprising a plurality ofspaced supporting means adapted to support the rounds, a plurality ofbeams for moving the rounds along the supporting members, means forreciprocating said beams horizontally, and stop members carried by atleast some of said beams, each stop member comprising a pivotallymounted arm movable thereof. v

GEORGE W. RAUSCHENBERGER.

